Online Tour Stop 2

Loyalists soldiers marching at the 244th Anniversary of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.

NPS Photo/ Nate Toering

Online Tour Stop 2 – Choosing Sides

The Battle of Moores Creek Bridge is a Civil War pitting North Carolinians against one another. Years of social upheaval in the North Carolina backcountry left the colony broken and divided. While the Sons of Liberty (Patriots) disapproved of the taxes levied by Great Britain in the years leading up to the American

Revolution, the Sons of Liberty in North Carolina would band with Royal Governor William Tryon (1765-1771) to levy similar tax against North Carolinians. These unfair taxes would lead to an uprising between 1768-1771 know as the “War of Regulation” ending with one battle known as the Battle of Alamance.

A victory by Governor Tryon and the North Carolina Sons of Liberty in 1771, created a divide between the Sons of Liberty of North Carolina and the backwoodsmen known as Regulators who lost the war. The Sons of Liberty in North Carolina only furthered that divide in 1774 when the Continental Congress inquired about them. Stating the Regulators were outlaws and unsuited for the Patriot cause.

Looking to take advantage of that divide, Royal Governor Josiah Martin (1771-1776). Martin sided with the Regulators after he became Royal Governor, enraging the Patriots. When hostilities broke out up north in 1775, Martin lost control of North Carolina. Martin looking to retake the colony, devised a plan to regain North Carolina by force. This plan involved rallying the Regulators, and Highland Scots who had recently entered the colony.

The Highlanders had given their oath to the crown to gain land in the colonies, and many of them had given their oaths to Martin as well. About 200 Regulators and 1400 Highlanders would assemble to fighting the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.

 

Patriots kneeling during the 244th anniversary of the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.

NPS Photo/ Nate Toering

The Patriots had suffered from taxes levied against the colonies for years after the French and Indian War. Their biggest complaint was that they had no representation in the British government, no delegate of their own to speak for them. In North Carolina the Patriots gained control in 1775, banishing Royal Governor Josiah Martin.












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